Question about doing a site in standard html compared to word press for SEO

[robertsz]

Hello,
Old School web designer here who has been away for some time. I have a little bit of free time and want to design some basic mini type sites for my better domains.
I am skilled in html design with proper meta tags for SEO but I also see a ton of wordpress sites out there and understand they are some great add ons for seo / keyword etc.
Are html sites still doing well in search engines compared to all of these new wordpress sites? Is the fact that you can create "inside" pages and posts fast with wordpress the reason why I see more and more?
I dont want to go one route only to find out I should have researched wordpress.

Thank you!

Rob

 

[Biggie]

just off the top of my head....

I think you'd have to compare the ranking of html coded sites versus those using wordpress, which are based on same subject or having same domains etc., to get indication if one offers benefits the other doesn't.


imo...

 

[Shane]

People use Wordpress because it's easier. It doesn't offer any SEO benefits.

 

[robertsz]

Thanks beards. One more question. I know updating the site makes a difference. What is the rule of thumb to adding new content to keep the site ranking high? I know that static sites seem to fall down the rankings.

 

[atomic]

Well WordPress does not offer any SEO benefits in itself, but it does offer plugins that could do things faster compared to custom coding things. Also, it is rumored that Google loves WP sites.

But, definitely WP is a great choice for mini sites. Plus man, your old school coding might not meet today's standards lol . Goodluck!

 

[atomic]

Thanks beards. One more question. I know updating the site makes a difference. What is the rule of thumb to adding new content to keep the site ranking high? I know that static sites seem to fall down the rankings.

Add new original, "high quality" content. No duplicate content, etc....

 

[robertsz]

Thank you,
My problem is learning the new word press. I tried it about 4 years and it seems like there is much more to it now. I know adding pages is much more simple to add a post then to create a new html page. I can see the ease, but the learning curve could trump everything. I guess I will also have to look at the meta tags and see if they are still up to par. Dumb question, but I know at one point years ago I was reading the "revisit" meta line was starting to be a negative. Is that true?

 

[Shane]

Meta data is largely useless.. Check out the micro-data format at Schema.org.

 

[robertsz]

OK, so is there a site or somewhere I can grab a mico then just ad my keyword and description into it and use it? As for Wordpress what SEO / Keyword addons are the best?

 

[atomic]

Thank you,
My problem is learning the new word press. I tried it about 4 years and it seems like there is much more to it now. I know adding pages is much more simple to add a post then to create a new html page. I can see the ease, but the learning curve could trump everything. I guess I will also have to look at the meta tags and see if they are still up to par. Dumb question, but I know at one point years ago I was reading the "revisit" meta line was starting to be a negative. Is that true?

No... learning WP is super easy imo.... only get's hard when you want to dive into advance things like building plugins, themes, etc... but for the most part you should be able to make good looking WP sites after a week of practicing.

 

[manyagem]

I'm in a similar position to you. Cut my teeth many years ago on html and css, now coming back to develop sites, having time on my hands. It seems to me that Wordpress is a no brainer once you've overcome the learning curve. However, be aware there are two ways to go: wordpress.com with an online account, wordpress.org to download the software and develop locally for uploading to your own webhost. I started with the first route and decided I'd be better going the other way. Unfortunately, WP does nasty things to your DNS settings so it's not as easy as you'd think to break away from the online route. I'm still trying to reclaim my domain from their clutches.

 

[robertsz]

Thanks IceDude, do you have any specific addons / plug ins pertaining to seo and keywords that you use? I know I used one four years ago that then had a keyword box on each post

 

[atomic]

Thanks IceDude, do you have any specific addons / plug ins pertaining to seo and keywords that you use? I know I used one four years ago that then had a keyword box on each post

I like All in one SEO or Yoast SEO. Yeah, mostly all the SEO plugins have that feature now.

 

[Shane]

OK, so is there a site or somewhere I can grab a mico then just ad my keyword and description into it and use it? As for Wordpress what SEO / Keyword addons are the best?

I don't know of any tool that automates schema. If you find one let know!

 

[atomic]

I don't know of any tool that automates schema. If you find one let know!

Beards, I think there is one. I don't remember off the top of my head, but will PM you with one later...

 

[robertsz]

Hey Icedude, dont forget to tell me, i would love to find it!

 

[asfas]

WP is super easy, no need to learn anything. The big difference is in debugging, it's much easier to use tested plugins and themes on WP than debugging your own HTML/Javascript stuff. I suggest Yoast SEO plugin, All-in-one SEO has been reported to cause high server activity. I would also recommend these plugins :
Wordfence (malware etc security)
Duplicator (move your WP installation to another domain - fantastic plugin to save you from time waste and frustration)
and several more depending on what you do with your WP, but these 2 are a bit universal. And free.

 

[copper]

Wordpress is so easy that you can learn while doing it.
As for creating site, just pay few $ and get Themify or ElegantThemes.
Both have drag and drop page builder if you want to customize it.
You'll probably make unique website in one day.

 

[clasione]

If they are small sites I don't think I would use WordPress because the static HTML you're used to should work just fine.
What seems to have changed greatly in just the last few years is mobile and tablet compatibility as well as responsive design. I think that would probably play a larger role in traffic generation from search engines. Google (and probably Yahoo and BING) seems to be putting a lot of stock into serving the user based on their browser their using and whether or not the website they will visit will appear correctly for them.

 

[robertsz]

I am messing around with a wordpress site now. I installed Yoast SEO. My question is... Maybe it is the themes I have picked, but is there an overall site keyword option somewhere? I see the boxes under each post and article but nothing like a traditional keyword box on the index page. Is this because there is no traditional index page?